dayillenacovLGDa yillena (Wood That Sings)
Kakraba Lobi with Valerie Dee Naranjo and Barry Olsen
The third CD

The Lobi Nation of Ghana and Burkina Faso and are expert at making wood to sing. The art of playing the gyil is one of West Africa’s guarded treasures, loved for centuries as a virtuoso art with tremendous healing powers.

This, the trio’s 3rd CD, is a special edition of Kakraba’s personal favorites, never before recorded.

Da Yillena “The Wood is Singing” – (trio with kuar) Kakraba wrote this peice before a concert last year (2001), saying “We should record this one today.

Naamwin Numa “God Likes You” (K kokolele V voice, additional vocals by Rene Cologne) a lulabye to comfort a lost child

Pire (K gyil) – a prelude style used to call the attention of the ancestors

Darkpe (K gyil) a funeral song for a man of leadership age

Bawa (trio 2 gyils and kuar-gourd drum) a favorite dance style in Ghana’s Upper-west

Kpan Kpan Kpulo (K) – the kakarama is played by bachelors to lull themselves to sleep

Barri (trio with kuar) – this style is played during the cold months of the year on special gyils

Menene “What Can I do?” (K) – kokolele is traditionally played by children on the farm

Meng Meng Mengele (K-kakarama) a Lobi game song

The Sourcerer’s Song – in the old days, this kind of song would bring the magic forward

Bewildered Child (K-kokolele V-marimba) talks of the pity of a homeless child

Po Kobo (K) – an old funeral song

Lobi Rock (trio 2 gyils and ganga-barrel drum) – one of Kakraba’s original pieces

Available through on-line and regular retailers.

The following selections from this recording are provided here as MP3 files.

Da Yillena

Menene